


Force of Habit

by destinyofamerath



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Hunger Games in SPACE that is, Multi, The Hunger Games AU, short story collection
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-28
Updated: 2016-11-28
Packaged: 2018-09-02 22:23:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8685601
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/destinyofamerath/pseuds/destinyofamerath
Summary: Rey cursed her luck once more as she darted around the bend, only to come face to face with Kylo Ren.  If the murderous rage in his eyes was anything to go by, he remembered every insult she had thrown at him during their argument after the interviews.She sprinted straight past him.  The near-death experience was almost worth it just to see the look of shock on his face when the train on her heels charged around the corner.The Hunger Games AU no one asked for - in SPACE.





	

Shortly after Rey had arrived in the defunct old space station that was serving as this year’s arena, she had determined that almost everything in the manufactured city was nonfunctional.  Streetlights flickered beside old alleyways, and neon signs glowed above bars and restaurants - all furnished, but without a trace of food or liquor.  A shame, really - if she was about to die in this year’s Game’s, she would have rather done it completely, blackout drunk.  Now her only option was to stay sober and survive as long as she could.

Even most of the water pipes weren’t working - though there was one time that she flipped a faucet, doubting it would do anything, only for it to spray water into the sink below.  Otherwise, all the water in the arena was gathered in ponds in night gardens scattered throughout the city, just like the ones she had seen on Coruscant.  Rey had no desire to camp there, though - too open, too exposed - so she took what water she could in her canteen, the only thing of use to be found in the small pack she had grabbed while escaping the bloodbath ( _Sunglasses?_ Of all the things to put into a survival pack, why were there _sunglasses_ for an arena made up of a city bathed in eternal night?), and dove into the city’s underground.

Yes, _nearly_ everything in the city was inoperative - but with the luck she had been having lately, Rey shouldn’t have been surprised when the subway tracks beneath her feet began to vibrate.

Rey stared down at the humming tracks beneath her, unable to believe that everything was about to get so much worse _again_.  How far back was the last station she had passed by?  If it was close and she was quick, she could run back and hop onto the platform before the train passed.  Who knew how far along the tracks the next station would be - there seemed to be no order in the spacing between them, so it could be just around the next bend or a mile down the tracks and _why was it getting brighter all of a sudden._

Behind her, the train turned the corner, throwing the entire tunnel into stark relief. It’s horn blared, impossibly loud in her ears.

Rey _ran._

 _Kriff it all,_ she thought, the harsh sound of her feet pounding on the ground drowned out by the roar of the steadily approaching train.   _Of course this is how I go.  I get thrown into an arena with twenty-three bloodthirsty tributes in a fight to the death for Coruscant’s entertainment, and I’m going to be killed by a_ train _because Coruscant couldn’t be bothered to install a damned hoverrail in their arena!  Of all the luck…_

The moment she raced around the next corner, the train steadily approaching, she regretted her last thought.  Every time she cursed her (shitty, terrible, awful) luck, it threw something worse at her.

This time, it was Kylo Ren, standing right in the middle of the tracks.

Kylo Ren, tribute from Naboo, the richest and most prosperous planet in the First Order.  Kylo Ren, first graduate of the Career planets’ so-called Victor’s School, and Coruscant favorite to win this year’s Games.

Kylo Ren, with the broad shoulders and powerful muscles and height that spoke of years good nourishment.  Kylo Ren, who could probably afford a hundred products to keep up his stupidly perfect, glossy hair.

Kylo Ren, who thought he was so stoic and mysterious, whose face was hard as stone to hide his thoughts but whose eyes betrayed every feeling.

Kylo Ren, who had sneered at her after her interview and called her the “sympathy tribute; the only reason people like you is because they feel sorry for you, they know you’ll die easily”.  Kylo Ren “with the victor parents”, she had shot right back, “Mommy and Daddy are probably rigging the Games for you as we speak, how does it feel knowing that you’ll never _really_ win the Games?”

Kylo Ren, who probably remembered every word of that insult, whose eyes hardened and mouth set at the sight of her, who settled into an easy stance to face her head on.

Rey sprinted straight past him.

She took some small pleasure in seeing his jaw drop open as he caught sight of the train turning the corner behind her, before he turned and raced after her - or away from the incoming train, more likely.  There’d be time for killing each other later, she was sure.

When it came to a battle of speed, they were evenly matched.  Rey had a head start, and was quicker and more agile that Kylo.  However, Kylo was fast for a man of his size, and his legs longer than hers by several inches.  Slowly, he began to catch up, and even as the train ate up the distance between them, Rey could catch sight of him in her peripherals.

The world seemed to slow down when she saw him tilt, though.  His grunt when his foot caught on a pothole below seemed magnified, even with the roar of the train in her ears, and she whirled as the breath left him as he hit the ground.

Rey didn’t think.  Instead of sprinting forward, knowing there was one less tribute to worry about in the arena, she spun and leaned down to grab his arm, tugging it insistently.

“Come on, come on!   _Up!_ ” she demanded, all but dragging him to his feet.  Dazed by his fall, all he could do was scramble after her, obeying as she grabbed his hand and dragged him along.

The entire situation had taken scant seconds - but they were seconds they couldn’t afford to lose.  Even as Kylo regained his senses and sprinted along beside her, the train grew closer and closer - mere feet behind them.

 _So this is how I die,_ Rey thought, before her arm was violently jerked to the side by Kylo.  Still holding her hand, he dragged her to the side of the tracks and into a tiny alcove between the pipes and wires.  Just as she pulled her foot in, the train roared past, so close the displaced air rushed past her face, the sound nearly deafening.

Then, as soon as it was there, it was gone, leaving the two of them gasping for breath in the little niche in the wall.

All of a sudden, Rey was _very_ aware of where she was and what she had done.  The little hole in the wall was barely large enough to house Rey comfortably, let alone the two of them.  As it was, she and Kylo were flush together from thigh to collar.  Every time he inhaled, the movement of his chest would press her tightly against the jagged piping at her back, and every time he exhaled his breath would stir the hair around her face that had come free from her buns.  All of a sudden, Rey was assailed with an image - their hands were free, it would be all too easy for him to slip a weapon out of his pocket and…

“All right, all right, let me _out,_ ” she hissed, struggling against his hold.  (Well, the hold of his body and the pipes, at least.)  After a moment and some adjustment between the two of them, she managed to break free of the alcove, panting and stumbling away from him, refusing to take her eyes off of the trained killer in front of her.

He emerged with a good deal more grace, though his hair was ruffled and he was still gasping as well.  He bent over and rested his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath.

“Don’t bother,” he waved for her to stop when she reached for the broken piece of pipe she had been using as a weapon.

Rey snarled at his comment.  “What’s _that_ supposed to mean?  You’re so confident in your abilities that you think I shouldn’t even _try?_  That I should just lay down and _die?_ ”

“That’s not what I meant,” he said, straightening up, though he was still panting.  “You just saved my life.  Why kill me now?”

“I don’t know how things work on Naboo, but where I’m from, when someone tries to kill you, you certainly just don’t let them.”

“Do I _look_ like I’m trying to kill you?”

“You’re a tribute.  I’m a tribute.  It’s what you’re supposed to do.”

“Then I’ll say it again,” he replied.  “You just _saved my life._  You obviously understand ‘an eye for an eye’, did they ever teach you ‘one good turn deserves another’ on that miserable backwater desert world that they call a First Order colony?”

For several seconds, Rey glared at him.  Then, her scowl still in place, she returned her piece of pipe to its place slung across her back.  “Fine,” she said.  “One good turn deserves another.”  She pointed down the tunnel.  “You go that way.  I’ll go the other.  We don’t turn around and try to find each other, and next time we meet we go back to trying to kill each other.  Fair?”  With that, she turned to walk down the tunnel once more.

“Wait!” he called after her, and Rey turned to look over her shoulder at him.  Slowly, he approached her, though not too close, still aware that she was dangerous when afraid.  “Why did you save me?”

That gave Rey pause.  “Does it matter?”

“Yes.”

Truthfully, Rey didn’t _know_ why she had saved him.  There hadn’t been any conscious thought to it - her body had acted on instinct when she had seen him fall.  There wasn’t any reason behind it, it was just something she had done.  Something foolish, to be sure, but something that had been done, nonetheless.

Rey shrugged to hide her hesitance.  “Force of habit,” she replied.  “Is that all?”

For a moment, Kylo frowned, staring her down.  Rey got the distinct feeling that he was trying to see through her, and her scowl deepened as she tried to discourage him.

“No,” he finally said.  “Make an alliance with me.”

It took Rey a moment to process his words.   _“What?”_

“Make an - “

“No, no, I heard you.  You want to make an alliance with me?  The ‘sympathy tribute’?” she spat at him.

Kylo winced.  “Poor choice of words, apparently.  You’re tougher than you look.  We’d do well together.”

“And by that do you mean, ‘I look forward to killing you in your sleep’?”

“ _No._  I mean the two of us could go far in the Games - one of us could even win.”

“And by one of use, you mean ‘you’, right?”  Rey scoffed.  “There can only be ony victor.  We’ve all seen the previous Games, you know - I know how alliances work.  You work together for a time, before one decides that the others have outlived their usefulness and orchestrates their deaths.  I’m not going to put myself at risk for that.”

“Fine,” Kylo replied, “Then we’ll turn it into an agreement.  We work together until we get down to the last, say, five tributes.  After that, we go our separate ways, and _then_ we go back to trying to kill each other like civilized tributes.”

“And why should I trust that you’ll uphold this bargain?  You don’t even have any reason to trust me.”

“You _saved_ my _life,_ ” he repeated again, as if the words would suddenly change their meaning for her and everything would simply fall into place.  “If you kept me from dying once, I doubt you’ll try to kill me again without a good reason.  I’m simply trying to provide you a good reason.  I don’t know what I can say to make you trust that I’m being sincere, but perhaps this will help - I have resources.  In the Coruscant betting pools, the odds are in my favor to win four to one - and this means sponsors.  Help when we most need it.”

Rey gnawed on her lip, mulling it over.  Making this alliance was a _huge_ risk - but one that could pay off so, so well.  Since they were allied, he would share any resources he obtained with her - and on top of that, if she survived to the end of their pact, she could have significantly drained his pool of sponsors - meaning he would have less to go off of when they would have to fight later.

But was it worth the chance that he might kill her along the way?

Finally, Rey moved to stand beneath one of the emergency lights in the tunnel.  She beckoned him over, pointing to the ground beneath the light.  The glow illuminated his face - his long nose, his full lips, and, most importantly, his expressive eyes, which couldn’t hide a thing.  Some people wore their hearts on their sleeves, but Kylo wore it in his eyes.

“Swear it to me,” she said.  “Look me in the eye and swear that you’ll uphold our bargain.  That you won’t try to kill me until after we go our separate ways.”

His eyes bored into hers, the entire weight of his attention on Rey.  He paused for a moment, as if imploring her to believe him, before saying, “I swear it.  I will not harm you until after we have gone our separate ways after our bargain has been completed.  I swear it on my grandfather’s grave.”

He didn’t waver once throughout his oath - no trace of deception or uncertainty in his eyes.  Rey had no idea who his grandfather was, but whoever he was, he held him in high esteem - and held their agreement in high enough regard to swear on his grave.

That settled it for Rey.  “Well, then,” she said, extending her hand, “Kylo Ren, I’d like to welcome you to the Rey-Kylo Alliance of this year’s Hunger Games.”

He took her hand, a slow smile curling up his lips just as his long fingers curled around her own.  “A pleasure, Rey.”

**Author's Note:**

> So I wrote a little thing over the break to get me back into the swing of writing so I could finally finish up the next chapter of TSB. Unfortunately, my computer broke down - so this is the only thing I got to write. (I have a new laptop now, though - hooray!)
> 
> I originally wrote this just as a short little thing for Tumblr, but now I'm debating on whether or not to continue - probably in the form of short snippets like this one. Though I kind of know where I'd want the plot to go, most of it is kind of hand-wavey, so I think a collection of short stories all within the same universe would be fun! I'd try to mention where each story happens chronologically at the top of the chapter to make things a bit easier for all of you.
> 
> I guess the other thing about this is that this would probably be a Reylo/Stormpilot combined fic, switching off each chapter between the two ships and situations, or even just switching as I have ideas or suggestions are made to me. Though Rey/Kylo and Poe/Finn don't interact so much with each other, their stories have a lot of sway over what happens to the other two. For now, I've left Stormpilot off the ship list - they're not in the story yet, and I'm not going to cross-tag until I have some content for them, because I'm not a terrible person who crosstags for no reason just for views. I have to justify begging for those comments first, you see?
> 
> (Also, for those of you interested in JUST the Reylo part of this or JUST the Stormpilot part - I'd title each chapter with who's POV we're reading from, and you can just skip the others, if you prefer.)
> 
> Anyways, if I continue this, it won't be for a while - TSB is long overdue, so I'm going to try to finish the next chapter of that up before I write anything more of this.
> 
> Otherwise - would you guys wants to see more of this? Since there's not so much of a plot as much as me writing short stories around various situations, feel free to make suggestions, or comment or send me a message on Tumblr with a situation you'd like to see.
> 
> Check me out on Tumblr at [wordsinthenight](http://wordsinthenight.tumblr.com/)!


End file.
